Water project ends 50 years of agony in Isiolo

This is according to an assessment report conducted by the government together with its development partners, led by the World Food Programme, which did a food and assessment report in January this year.

The situation is particularly worse in the drought-stricken counties, which are classified under the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (Asal) areas in the country.

However, despite all odds, some communities in the Asal areas that have been suffering for over 50 years may miss out on the list of starving Kenyans as a result of drought, following successful water projects initiated in their areas.

On December 28, 2020, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) initiated the Korbesa community water project in Cherab ward, Merti subcounty.

This was in conjunction with the Northern Water Works Development Agency (NWWDA) and the County Government of Isiolo.

The project was destined to supply water to five centres called Matarba, Saleti, Riga, Korbesa and Biliki, which previously were supplied water through water trucking, which was unreliable and a very expensive undertaking.

Today, the women and children who used to walk an average of 10km to draw water from Waso river — a very dangerous and tiring undertaking — are all smiles upon successful completion of the project, which cost Sh95 million.

“Right now, women are having a good time with their husbands because they do not have to walk for a long distance to get water,” said Halima Wako, a resident of Matarba.

We caught up with her at one of the waterpoints, fetching tapped water, which to her was like a dream come true.

We are very happy to get tapped water at long last, all women are very happy. We give thanks to the Lord and those who came up with the project

DREADFUL PAST

As women, they have suffered for many years, waking up at six o’clock in the morning to go to the river to fetch water from a well.

In the community, they used to fetch water from a 20-foot well.

Ten people used to enter the well and the one at the bottom filled jerricans before passing over to the others to reach the top.

“We are very happy to get tapped water at long last, all women are very happy. We give thanks to the Lord and those who came up with the project,” she said.

Currently, life has transformed and women are able to prepare food for their school-going children in time and are happy, too.

Before the project, washing clothes was a nightmare, but with the completion of the project, the community can wash their clothes every day and exercise proper hygiene.

Even the animals, such as donkeys, goats, sheep and cattle, are now able to quench their thirst with the water from the project. The river is dry but there is plenty of water for them.

Wako said there were a lot of conflicts in homes because of the water problem as husbands would always complain of a delay in getting food.

Lodman Lekalkule the Isiolo county drought coordinator of the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), said they were happy to see the fulfilment of the Merti, Korbesa Biliki water supply project, which is a 26km water pipeline that takes water from Merti to Biliki.

He said the project was implemented by the NDMA through the support of the European Union.

Lekalkule said the area called Cherabo ward in Isiolo county is one of those which have been faced with perennial water problems.

“Over the years since Independence, this ward had not had any permanent water source," he said.

"So in 2020, the three organisations, NDMA, NWWDA and the county government of Isiolo, sat together and pursued the idea of coming with a permanent solution."

Right now women are having a good time with their husbands because they do not have to walk for a long distance to get water

HOW IT STARTED

In the previous years, they had been  reacting to the drought situation through drought response water tracking. Annually, they would spend close to Sh50 million together with other partners, which was a lot of money.

To get a permanent water solution, they had to get water from Merti, which has a good groundwater potential, as opposed to the other areas in the ward.

“In Merti, we have a very good yield. That’s why the NWWDA drilled a borehole and NDMA did a two-tapper pipeline of 13km from Merti up to Matarba,” he said.

They constructed a pipeline and a tank with a capacity of storing 231,000 litres, together with a booster pump to boost water to Korbesa.

The aim of doing that was to build resilience in the community by adding adequate ‘shock absorbers’ so that in the event of any drought, people would be more resilient.

For them, the project is meant to give a long-term solution to the water challenge that the community faced for many years.

“This is what we call preparedness so that next year, because drought will be there with us whether we like it or not because of issues of climate change, we'll be there but we will have solutions for our people,” he said.

Through the project, even during drought season people, schools and health facilities will be having water to support their livelihoods and ensure there is proper hygiene.

Further, the community will be able to get water for their livestock permanently and build resilience and end drought emergencies.

As the NDMA, their mission is to minimise the effects of drought emergencies by ensuring drought does not become an emergency in the country.

The project he said is supporting a population of close to 20,000 people within the five centers called Matarba, Saleti, Riga, Korbesa, and Biliki“All the communities are now getting water after 50 years of not getting water, we thank our partners especially the European Union and also the national government and county government,” he said.

Lekalkule said for sustainability they set up a management committee of the project which consists of the community to be able to run the project.

The community will be charged some levies so as to maintain the project such as leakages, and paying the operators, among other expenses.

PROJECT DETAILS

The entire project cost Sh95 million. The NWWDA contributed Sh40 million, while the county government contributed Sh21 million.

The NDMA county manager said the core breeding herd, which is the livestock left behind for women to milk households in the area, is close to 5,000 heads of cattle, and another 5,000 goats and sheep.

The agency intends to connect water to all households in the five centres. The three kilometres remaining will be done this year to cover up to Biligi.

He said they cover four primary schools and one secondary school.

Lekalkule said the area has been under water tracking throughout any period of drought.

In the region, he said they used to spend Sh50 million annually for water tracking alone during drought.

However, with the project in place the last financial year, there were no financial expenses on water tracking, and the funds went to other developments.

He said Cherab also had high malnutrition cases, which were caused by poor hygiene and lack of food, affected their nutrition status.

Women and schools are now doing kitchen gardening to get some vegetables and fruits to improve their nutrition and diet, which improves their nutrition score.

“This water is helping bring the issues of nutrition and hygiene to the forefront at least people are able to get their food, grow some crops or vegetables at their kitchen gardens,” he said.

At the local dispensaries, the levels of hygiene have also improved because the nurses are able to clean the health facilities, get clean water to drink and serve people diligently.

Now the school meals programmes in the area have also been improved because of the access to water.

In the future, the NDMA expects to see locals planting trees because of the availability of water.

Geoffery Manene, a water engineer from the Water department in the Isio loovernment who was in charge of the Merti Korbesa water supply said it was a supply system composed of two boreholes and a 26.5-kilometer water supply traversing five centres.

He said the project involved two boreholes, one which was built in 2010 by Aphia plus, and another one built recently.

The water was pumped from the borehole for 13.2km to a booster tank, after which NDMA took the water booster to the other centers, including Saleti, Riga and Korbesa, a distance of 11.6m.

“Inside the pumphouse, we installed a booster pump which was to be powered in hybrid system hybrid system is where you use the generator and the solar intermittently to reach centres, which were far end,” he said.

WATER IS PLENTY 

Halake Saru, a resident of Matarba who is in charge of the water in her area, said they used to suffer for years but now they have a lot of water from taps.

Saru said she is happy as they have no challenges with water, which is also shared with animals.

"Previously women would go with donkeys for a long distance up to Samburu to search for water, now it is available," she said.

Ibrahim Uka senior chief Matarba location, said they have been drinking fresh tapped water now for the last eight months.

"The project was implemented by three organisations but was largely done by the NDMA  it serves four other locations that are also benefiting from the project," he said

The chief said his location has a population of almost 2m000 people, while Kurbesa has 9,000 and Salit 4000, Riga 600, Biligi 5000.

Sindiba Rugicha, the senior teacher at Matarba Primary School, said students and teachers have suffered for many years.

He said teachers who are from upcountry were really getting a hard time working in the area, adding that even cooking relief food from the government was a challenge.

With such initiatives, the drought could soon no longer be an emergency in the country as residents will have access to water for drinking and crop production.